TechEd: Microsoft Builds Cloud, Mobile Momentum

Microsoft releases a flood of new products to support the company's "cloud-first, mobile-first" strategy at this week's TechEd conference in Houston.

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After announcing nearly 40 Azure features at last month's Build conference, Microsoft didn't let up at this week's TechEd conference in Houston. The company unveiled a range of products to fill out new CEO Satya Nadella's "cloud-first, mobile-first" strategy.

"How can there be two firsts?" said Microsoft Corporate VP Brad Anderson, who presided over the keynote. "They're one and the same. You can't have a cloud without connected devices and vice versa. [Otherwise,] all you have is potential that goes untapped."

Tapping that data, of course, is complicated. It involves not only connecting devices to the cloud, but also a host of security and management concerns. To help organizations close the gaps (and to show, as Anderson repeatedly point out, how quickly Microsoft is iterating these days), Microsoft unleashed a deluge of products, some of which are available immediately and others coming later this year.

Microsoft kicked things off with Azure ExpressRoute, which lets companies establish private connections between on-premise assets and Azure. Available immediately, it's supported by partnerships between Microsoft and telecom providers such as AT&T, Level 3, and Verizon.

Microsoft Azure Files, announced as a preview, is designed to simplify how users securely share files across devices and the cloud. Azure API Management, another preview release, enables companies to expose APIs through the cloud.

Coming as a preview in June, Microsoft Azure Site Recovery, known previously as Hyper-V Recovery Manager,

Michael Endler joined InformationWeek as an associate editor in 2012. He previously worked in talent representation in the entertainment industry, as a freelance copywriter and photojournalist, and as a teacher. Michael earned a BA in English from Stanford University in 2005 ... View Full Bio

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I agree, Microsoft is definitely starting with the right pieces, including encryption and data loss prevention since this is still one of the big issues with most cloud storage. By placing the proper controls here, it means enterprises can now roll out an enterprise strategy with the right security built in to hopefully fix a lot of the issues that arise when employees use third party cloud storage solutions. Additionally, having a strong disaster recovery solution means that enterprises can start to better manage their cloud BCP/DRP strategy by simplifying it thanks to Azure.

Once again, Microsoft is being Microsoft. Starting with an imperfect hand, it incrementally improves and improves it. In the end, Azure will be a cloud better than some and in contention with the best of them.

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